09.13.2017 08:53 AM

Melanie Joly Watch: Canada’s worst cabinet minister gets reviewed

And not by me, either.  Below is what average folks are saying about the minister with the reverse Midas touch, and the unmitigated mess she made of Canada 150.  It is scathing.

Melanie Joly is a disaster of a minister.  She is a joke.  And PMO needs to send her to the distant reaches of the backbench – and dismiss all of her senior advisors, too.

“Shame on you Ottawa. Shame on you Heritage Canada and the organizers. You failed us!”

“Thousands lined up for hours and never got to set foot on Parliament Hill. Why were there lines going nowhere? Why were there no volunteers herding people? Why were there no washroom facilities for the thousands waiting to get in?”

“I have never seen such a poor, chaotic display. Shame on you Ottawa. You actually ruined Canada Day for many thousands of people visiting Ottawa. If this is the way Canadian citizens now have to be treated at an event in our country then perhaps the terrorists are winning.”

“[A] shameful fiasco on many levels…It was an explosive situation…Wasn’t there any brain at the top that could see how DANGEROUS this situation was?…I would like to hear a formal apology from your organization.”

“The organizers of Canada Day 2017 should be ashamed of themselves for the shoddy work that went into this year’s event. Thousands of people spent at least four hours in line this morning only to be told they were not in the ‘official’ line…”

“After that absolutely embarrassing screwup on security on Canada Day, I am stunned that you [Melanie Joly] have not stepped forward to at least acknowledge that the Parliamentary Security detail completely blew it… Please, I beg you to step out of your protective shell and acknowledge what a mess Canada Day was and take some responsibility for it.”

“I would respectfully suggest to Justin that he should consider sending you [Joly] for some intensive ‘major event planning’ training because you certainly flopped badly for the July 1st event on Parliament Hill this year… Might I suggest that you start with some small weekend bake sale events for charity…”

“This past Canada Day had to be the worst I have seen since moving to Ottawa 40 years ago. What a mess your department made of getting to and from the Hill. Today I also read that you are against approving the Grey Jay as Canada’s national bird. Why? Probably time for you to resign!”

“This msg isn’t about the rain. It is about the deception of the government allowing tens of thousands of Canadians to mob together in a futile attempt to gain access to a venue that could not accommodate a fraction of us…Your treatment of us as Canadians was dismal, and disappointing. You invited us to a party and you didn’t even open the door.”

10 Comments

  1. Kelly says:

    Odd article to run by a company that is begging said Minister to expand the Aid to Publishers program to Daily papers in a futile effort to save it’s sorry ass. That being said, it’s disconcerting that one of Joly’s top people is a former Google exec. Makes one wonder. http://globalnews.ca/news/3512644/google-lobbying-heritage-minister-chief-of-staff/

  2. BlueGritr says:

    Lots of good veteran Liberal MPs who got bypassed when cabinet selections were made. Wonder how they’re feeling now?

    • Miles Lunn says:

      I think Trudeau wanted to have a more youthful cabinet. After all the large swing towards the Liberals was largely due to large millennial turnout so I think he wanted to reflect that. The problem is it led to many inexperienced ones who are more likely to land him in trouble than more seasoned ones. Also ideology may be part of it as much of the old guard were more middle of the road types as opposed to the newer ones who tend to come more from the progressive end.

  3. Matt says:

    Joly has dirt on Trudeau.

    Only explanation for how she’s still in Cabinet.

  4. Eric Weiss says:

    She’s young, female and photogenic. That’s why she’s a Minister. Kent Hehr was a failure and got demoted faster than Trudeau could take a selfie. The CPC did the same with Eve Adams and Michelle Rempel.

  5. Marco says:

    Everyone one has dirt on Trudeau but political correctness being what it is…well…..don’t hold your breathe for any big reveals.

  6. James Smith says:

    Many folks who make their living by drawing pictures for a living like me, pleaded with this person as soon as she became minister to:
    – Trash the boring “Free” font used for Canada 2017 & hire a Real Font designer
    – Immediately start a “Real” design charrette for a proper logo for Canada 2017 & dump the lame winner of the colouring contest
    – Up the game so the Canada 2017 celebrations weren’t going to be the dud that they turned out to be

    Where replies were received, they were standard pol speak for “Go away children the adults are looking after this”

    I did not even get the standard “Thank-you for writing” non reply. I’m not going to trot out my Grit Bonafides ( I’m happy to say M Dion has called me ” a sophomoric partizan” – if I ever get a coat of arms that will be by motto translated into Latin BTW) nor did I to this Minister, but one should at the minimum get the non reply, reply.

    So count me in on the pile on to rid the front bench of this boat anchor.

  7. Charlie says:

    I’m not the least bit thrilled by Joly’s ongoing presence in cabinet — as I’ve written here on many occasions expressing my disapproval.

    But ‘she’s got dirt on him’ or ‘political correctness’ are not remotely intelligent reasons for her ongoing position as minister, and border on a cable TV-show-esque level of basic understanding of politics.

    She is still a minister for a couple of reasons:

    1) She’s a personal friend of Trudeau and he, in my opinion, has made the mistake of mixing personal friendship with the business of politics. Which is why he is unable to push her our as easily as he would someone he has no attachment to;
    2) Trudeau’s immediate circle has developed a near phobia of rocking the ship when it comes to addressing cabinet member performance. Hence, the continued survival of sub-par ministers;
    3) And relating back to point 2 – There is a notion that changing something is admitting there was something wrong to begin with – and this is something PMO has be pathologically clinging on to since ER and Monsef.

    2019 is not that far off and I understand that Trudeau’s personal brand is still quite potent. I still don’t think they should ignore the importance of organizational competence.

    • David S says:

      Charlie’s right but forget one more important reason: she’s a woman. “Because it’s 2015” gender parity cabinet means an objectively worse cabinet than it could be, and it’s absurd that both candidates in the Montreal election promised it, that it’ll surely be an issue in the Ontario election, that it’s now surely the ‘standard’ in any level of politics thanks to Trudeau. No, just no. I want the best people available, not people chosen for their genitals.

      That said, I was in Ottawa for Canada Day and the complaints are overblown. Your Canada Day wasn’t ‘ruined’ if you weren’t able to get on the Hill. There were countless activities elsewhere – in fact, more events that were less crowded than usual thanks to the hype scaring away the locals. The media publicized the security / entrance situation very well, and made it perfectly clear that if you wanted to get on the Hill you’d better be there VERY early (as you need to for the noon-hour show even in a regular year).

      It would be refreshing if people took personal responsibility for their own lack of planning. Do these people not have access to a magical thing called the internet that spoke about security barriers and screening weeks before July 1? It sucks that some people wasted hours in line, but frankly, I don’t we’re taking about the sharpest knives in the drawer.

  8. Sue T. says:

    The whole idea was to make the maximum number of people disappointed and demoralized. Hence forcing many to wait in rain only to be turned away. Hence forgetting Alberta. The whole idea is that the Canadian nation is illegitimate (e.g. Toronto Star: “Canadian history lessons need a back-to-school reboot: Paradkar… John A. McDonald is “an enforcer of Aryan supremacy” and “a criminally flawed man”) and best done away with. This is why Joly is still in clover. As per MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette, many Canadians are fit only for the guillotine in the eyes of betters.

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